Soul of Fire
by trooperofthewild
Summary: determined to control his own fate harry potter has to rely on his cunning and sheer will alone to overcome the hurdles across his life.post-ootp independantharry also a bit superharry earned and learned anti-dumbledore-ron-hermoine-remus,better summ insi
1. Chapter 1

Soul of Fire

by trooperofthewild

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and all things related to Harry Potter are the intellectual property of J.K.Rowling and several other publishers. Movie rights belong to warner brothers I think (didn't like the movies… )…..trust me I don't have the resources to publish stuff much less produce a movie….so get this ridiculous notion out of your head that I'm doing this for profit……fun only 

SUMMARY: Starts just after the incident in the department of mysteries in ootp (and hence post-ootp)…..

When everything u believed in starts falling apart and the guiding hand that u followed seems to be leading u to your doom…..when trust becomes your most valued commodity you are willing to exchange, what do you do ? Harry Potter re-evaluates his life and priorities and decides to take matters into his own hand …and perhaps shoulders…….

Author's note: hehehe….feels weird to think myself as an author….but I digress u chose to open the link

Now you read the story ….this story as you might have guessed is centered on Harry, specifically an independent "think-it-through" Harry Potter (not whiny "i-hate-my-life" Harry Potter)…plenty of Dumbledore-Ron-"Hermyownninny"- bashing and Remus too…soooooo this is just a warning to those who don't like these….and ships will be strictly my choice …no polls…no choosing…its already decided. And oh! Yes ….no horcruxes. DH spoilers!!!(although very few).

Also to be noted is that many people may find ideas that have very much been used in many many…and I mean many other fanfictions….**PLEASE TO PEOPLE WHOSE IDEAS ****MAY ****SEEM TO BE COPIED TAKE CREDIT WHERE ITS DUE…**and if you don't agree to my usage - my apologies, but I must implore you to understand that I had these ideas even before reading any fan fiction…..hence read with an open mind……..thanks you.

"speech"

"_parseltongue_"

_thoughts_

CHAPTER 1: PRIORITIES

When everything u believed in starts falling apart and the guiding hand that u followed seems to be leading u to your doom…..what happens when trust becomes your most valued commodity you are willing to exchange ? These were the thoughts running through the mind of one Harry James Potter as he roamed through the dark corridors of Hogwarts castle.

It had been almost a week since he had returned from the department of mysteries felling like the sky had smashed right over his head with his emotions running wild…despair being the prominent one.

He had lost his godfather. Admittedly he did not know Sirius that well, he had not grown up with him as he should have. He had not even spent too much time around Sirius, but he was a sense of hope to harry…a beacon or a symbol if you will…that someone still loved him…..that he was not alone, the man had survived on rats just to be near him for gods sake. Sirius had been an answer to those silent prayers and pleas he had made when lying battered, bruised or starved under the cupboard…that someone would come and take him away and that someone would truly care for him. And now that hope was gone. He remembered the burst of emotions he had felt in the shrieking shack when Sirius had offered him a home...not a house but a home. It had been the driving force and emotion behind the patronus that day…that he would have someone to call his own….allowing him to drive away a hundred and more dementors from harming that someone.

And now he was alone ….again.

Back to the same position he had been when he was seven and sat crying under the cupboard.

It had been three days since he had returned from the ministry…and all he had done was mope around and cry at the most unexpected of times in a fit of despair…at first he had blamed himself totally for the demise of his godfather thinking it was because of his headstrong foray into the ministry that had brought about the death. But on the third day in a moment of clarity he had realized that he did not control the actions of other people nor did life totally revolve around his actions. He still cried but not out of despair but out of grief. Because of this he had taken to a sort of solitary confinement …spending his days looking at the photo album in the room of requirement and remembering the good times he had with Sirius…..eating his meals in the kitchen with the house elves who were more than happy to serve and leave him alone…..he had not seen his friends nor other students as he only left the room at night after the curfew wrapped in his invisibility cloak.

This was perhaps fortunate or unfortunate depending on ones view point as it was on one of these nightly strolls that he discovered the true nature of his friends.

He remembered it vividly,

He was walking down the seventh floor corridor in the dead of the night without making a sound as he had applied a silencing charm on his shoes, the silence of the night giving him an eerie sense of peace and closure…it felt like he bled of every worry he had with each step he took…._soon I should be able to come out of this funk I'm in…_but it once again seemed to crash down on him like a hammer stroke,

As he almost rounded a corner he heard footsteps and voices……as he had no intention of being caught he flattened himself against the wall. It seemed the people who were speaking had chosen their spot for the conference,

"And what news do you have for me Mr. weasley?" spoke the voice he now recognized as that of the headmaster Dumbledore's…._what the?...what's Ron doing speaking to Dumbledore at this time of the night? _"we haven't seen hide nor hair of potter for the last three days professor….probably crying in his sleep where he ran of to" spat Ron……it was as if someone had dumped a cold bucket on his head….what truly clenched a fist around his heart was the venom in his "friends" voice……..then he heard a second voice he recognized "please professor I think he's in the room of requirement…that's why I requested we meet here" said a seemingly flustered Hermione granger. He felt cold …empty…he emotions were going haywire trying to brake free….but a small voice in his head seemed to almost whisper in his head…the same voice when anyone ever used the imperious curse on him…he pushed his emotions aside from now and tried to listen to this voice……_don't give in…think….you need to escape notice…same as when you were at the dursley's…..hide in plain sight……_then it came to him…._they are looking for me in the room of requirement…well let them find me there in the state they expect me to be in….._

As he started running back towards the room without making noise he heard the headmaster say

"it is imperative that we find Mr. potter at once and see that he has done nothing foolish"….he skidded to a halt in front of the portrait and quickly thought up a room and entered in carefully leaving the door to the room ajar so it would seem it was carelessly closed….he went to the couch that was there in the room picked up his photo album and opened it to a photo containing Sirius. "aquamenti" he intoned with his wand and a jet of water shot out from his wand he wet his fingers and let his wand rest at a nearby table. He carefully let the water drip on his face a bit and positioned himself on the couch and picked up the photo album and laid it on his chest and closed his eyes. For all purposes Harry potter had cried himself to sleep remembering his godfather.

A few minutes later as soon as he had relaxed his muscles and breathing he heard the door creak open and distinctly heard three sets of footsteps drawing near. There was no sound for a while and for good effect Harry twitched a bit…clutched his album a little closer…all the signs he was having a negative dream. After a few seconds he heard Dumbledore whisper "let us leave Mr. Potter here and give him some privacy if he has not done anything till now I do not believe he will try anything in the near future". As he heard the door close behind them Harry let out a breath he did not know he had been holding, but did not open his eyes instead tried to sort out his feelings. He was hurt that Ron so clearly detested him but it was not such a big surprise…after his fourth year and the spat he had not looked at Ron the same way as before…even though Ron believed otherwise. What truly hurt was Hermione's seemingly betrayal…he had counted her as a friend … a sister even …he had gone so far enough as to downplay his academics knowing her bossy and controlling nature…but it seemed all that had been for naught.

It had been two days back the incident took place…it had taken him that much time to bring order to his thoughts and emotions. In a bit over a week he would be leaving Hogwarts. He had realized that he was truly alone now the same as when he was seven years old but with far more cunning than that time…there was no time for weakness or pain and he had several things to take care of and find out the truth about…it was time he showed why he was perfect for slytherin…he had one week and two days time. Counting the number of days as he made his way through the tunnel to Hogsmeade under his invisibility cloak even though it was hogsmeade weekend.

It was time to set his priorities and his head right.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note**: Well that was indeed a very pleasant surprise….14 reviews on my first chapter. I will not list all the reviewers but my thanks all the same. It is those reviews that enable us to bring back our muses to work. Again I'm very grateful.

On another note is my grammar… well hate to say it but my grammar has always been a bit atrocious to begin with and it's gotten worse over the years (except in official letters...err lets just say that I tend to write like I talk) and unfortunately I don't have the time to look it up. For that my apologies. You will have to bear with me on that front until I either get a beta or I have time to re-check and correct everything myself. As for the point of "you" and "u" thing I'll try my best to avoid that. It's a side affect of a cluttered mind. Thank you all once again, I always appreciate constructive criticism. Also sadly I have very little time and too much content to write. Seeing that this chapter is obviously larger than the last you can expect more rather than fewer mistakes. I'll try my best to reduce them but I must once again ask you to bear with me for the time being. Thank you once again.

"speech"

"_parceltongue_"

_thoughts: please note that I will not be adding the customary "he thought" words at the end of personal thoughts _

_excerpts from a book/letter with underlined heading_

CHAPTER-2: PREPARATIONS I

A very silent Harry Potter made his way through the trap door in Honeyduke's and crept along the walls as he observed various students fill up their sugar requirements. A week ago he would have given anything to be one of them, to worry over sweets or girls or something distinctly normal, that he not stand out from the crowd. But now after two days of thinking he came to a very startling question and consecutively a conclusion. The question being why did he want to be normal? Had he not truly hated the very word the first ten years of his life? Why then was there a desire to be normal. The answer was very simple, he could mingle. He would not be an outcast like he had been in his so called childhood. In fact Hermione had the same problems with her bookish and constant authoritative attitude, he doubted anyone would have looked to her as a friend had that Halloween night not happened in his first year(apart from asking help on homework that is). He had been afraid he would loose his friends.

After some very pointed questions and some soul searching he come to a conclusion he could hold on to even if he was alone in the world right now. As he was a hair's breath away from breaking the bonds from his "friends" he did not mind anybody seeing what he truly was. He was neither a freak nor was he weird … he was unique. In his eyes (which were the only ones that mattered right now) that was a good thing. It made him unpredictable and that was an edge he very much was in need of at the moment. As of that moment Harry Potter was a wild card to anyone he did not care about.

He quietly made out of the store and walked down the street to a store he had seen Hermione shop in many times. It sold muggle products. He made his way through a relatively deserted shop (only a few muggleborns were filling up on Marsbars and Snickers) and discreetly took off his invisibility cloak in a corner of the shop when no one was looking around. He walked to the counter to find an old lady knitting socks which curiously contained a pattern of cricket bats and balls. After waiting a few minutes to see if she would look up he coughed finally getting her attention. "Yes can I help you young man?" she asked.

"Do you have notebooks and pens in store?" he asked nervously, fearing someone or something might spoil his plans. "Yes we have plenty of notebooks and notebooks but I'm sorry to say the pens only come in blue color" she replied seemingly not noticing his nervousness which she apparently chalked up to him being a pureblood in a muggle store. "Ok ... umm how much for your whole stock?" Harry asked. The old lady blinked once then twice but then got an angry expression on her face asking "Is this some kind of a joke young man?". "No ma'am. How much for the whole stock?" was the stoic reply. "I have in stock three hundred notebooks and around a hundred pens … that'll be seventy five galleons and ten sickles" she answered still not convinced he would buy. "Right…I'll buy the lot. Can you please shrink them and bring them to me, thank you". The old finally convinced that he would buy went inside the storage area to gather up his purchase in which he again included a shit load of parchment. This put a serious dent in his financial condition as his total budget that he removed from Gringotts the last time was about a hundred galleons, but it was very well worth the money and effort. He paid for his everything and made his way to the apothecary which was at the corner of the street. He was another ten galleons shorter by the time he reached the post office. The ingredients he bought were nothing extravagant per se, but they did not belong in the standard list the students bought their ingredients from and he had some very specific potions he had in mind for after reaching private drive. In the post office he exchanged his remaining galleons for muggle currency which came to about fifty pounds. (1)

Satisfied from all the shopping he had done he carefully made his way through the crowd of Honeyduke's under his invisibility cloak once again into the tunnel through the trap door. By the time he reached the room of requirements it was 3:00 in the afternoon. Unloading all the stuff he had bought he gave a tired sigh. There were many more things to do before he could even think of rest. Taking up the invisibility cloak he got out of the room and quietly treaded down to the third floor. This was one of the more risky jobs he planned to undertake today. Without making a sound he entered into the hospital wing and stood still in a corner noticing that there were about ten occupied beds which was strange in itself. The hospital wing was never this filled in normal circumstances. After he took second look at the patients he realized why. People's ailment seemed to vary from having neon green hair to pimples that flashed rude messages through out there foreheads. It seemed Lee Jordan intended to carry on the twin's legacy even though Umbridge had been chased out and the ministry accepted their mistakes. _Well good luck to him._ Madam Pomfrey at the moment seemed to be tending to a seventh year slytherin. Although he wanted Madam Pomfrey to be out of sight when he did his job, he knew that wouldn't happen soon if the number of patients were any indication. Taking a deep breath he sneaked his way to the cupboard he had seen her take out the potions from. Without making a sound he carefully opened the door quickly searching in it. _There…murky green color and with a slight fizz to it at the top…. And there…purple with slight indication of smoke._ He picked up four vials of each of those potions and put it in the pocket of his robes. He had taken enough in his stay here in the hospital wing to identify a magical restorative and a health and stamina restorative which was a variation of the pepper up potion. He knew he would desperately need it if everything went according to plan. He closed the cupboard and came out of the hospital wing. _One down two to go before I can concentrate on tasks that can be done within the room itself._

With that in mind he walked to the portrait of the fat lady. _Come to think of it what is her name anyway...ah never mind. _After what he had seen in St. Mungo's he had no doubt all the portraits in the school and some not in the school reported to the headmaster, so he waited till the portrait opened or someone came along. Pretty soon he was making his way up to his dormitory. He had seen no sign of Ron or Hermione and he didn't care as long as his plans were safe. Within his dormitory he found Dean Thomas putting up a new poster of west ham. _How fortunate._ He put on a long face and after slouching his shoulders quite a bit he carefully removed the cloak giving the picture perfect view of a grieving teenager. Dean seemed to notice him only after he shuffled near his bed leaning over his trunk. "Hey Harry" was the enthusiastic greeting. "Hi" mumbled Harry in response. "Uh…what are you up to?" Dean seemed uncomfortable with his lackluster response, which was exactly how he wanted it. " um well I…I have a lot on my mind now and I…I don't know if I'll have the time and the mind to …err…pack up anything I left behind afterwards…so I just thought I'd keep everything packed up in my trunk and you know I've taken to staying in the room of requirements these days…well I just thought I'd keep everything ready" was the morose reply. Dean didn't know how to reply so he just returned to what he was doing. Harry meanwhile turned his back to Dean and took out one of his oversized clothes. He then as silently as possible that is whispering the spell first transfigured the cloth to as close to the likeness of his trunk as possible putting a lot of extra power into the spell so that the "cloth" would not return to its previous state for at least a week. He then picked up the pseudo trunk and kept it on his bed and pulled the curtains closed the curtains. It was unlikely that Ron would notice anything and Hermione was very unlikely to enter the boy's dorm without reason but if he or she perchance did…he now had proxies with both Dean and the trunk. Still keeping his back turned towards Dean he put a feather light charm on his trunk and draped his invisibility cloak over the trunk. "Uh…I'll catch you later Dean" was his parting remark, though he inwardly smirked when he heard Dean mutter under his breath "Poor bloke looks like death washed over him, too many problems than even he can deal with". _Perfect _thought Harry. On the stairs he positioned himself such that he was also covered in his cloak and made his way out of the portrait. The reason for this was that he didn't want to be seen by the portrait with his trunk. He had long suspected that the headmaster had put some sort of monitoring ward that allowed him to know who was out of the dorms and when. Those didn't matter as he had created his proxies and alibis.

_Last job on the list…and some dinner on the way._ It was late in the evening as he tiredly made it to the painting of the bowl of fruit(after storing his trunk in the room that is) and tickled the pear. In the kitchen he was as usual greeted by one very overexcited house-elf named Dobby. "What can Dobby get for the great wizard Harry Potter today?" asked the house-elf. Interestingly he seemed to be wearing at least a dozen wooly hats and an oversized boxer._ Ah well I've gotten too used to his fashion sense…so no surprises there._ "Anything you've made tonight Dobby and after dinner I need to talk to you about something" answered Harry not needing to feign his tiredness. After a filling dinner Harry feeling a little refreshed asked Dobby "Dobby I think you know I've taken up residence in the come and go room. What I'd like to know is if I can call on you to do small tasks such as waking me up at a particular time or other small tasks?". "Of course Master Harry Potter can call on Dobby any time he wants" answered Dobby jumping up and down.

_Well…here we go; the real race for time begins now I guess. _On the way back to the room of requirements he went over his plans once again and made a rudimentary order to do things once he entered the room. First order of business was books he needed very advanced syllabus if he needed to achieve his goals. He had first had this idea when calling up the room for the DA some of the books had decidedly been from the restricted section. Now he was going to bank on all that was possible. _I need copies of all the books there are in the restricted section of the library _he thought while simultaneously imagining the type of room that he wanted clearly with as much detail as possible. He went in when the door appeared. In a word Harry was very happy with the room. The room was roughly the size of the great hall, over three quarters of it seemed to contain benches like in the dungeons. On the benches were all the books he had asked for lined up horizontally. Now the curious thing was that the notebooks he had purchased earlier were on top of the opened books themselves opened right in the middle. Like the books at the bottom were to be imprinted on the books on the top. This was exactly the purpose as they were to be copied to the books on top, the reason being that he had found out you could not take anything out of the room, you had to emulate on the things brought from outside and retake them, also that the emulation must be done by the visitors and not the room…meaning he had to apply the copying charms himself.

Now there was a catch to this, as you simply could not use standard copy charms on these books as the books were obviously protected against that very act as they were copyrighted. Ironically and astoundingly he was going to use some research made by Ronald Weasley of all people. It happened that Hermione had applied the same anti-copy charms on her homework to prevent Ron from accessing it. Instead of doing the homework himself Ron with the help of Harry had discovered a way around these charms. As he had helped in the creation of these charms himself he knew the exactly how it worked. He had to admit the mechanism was simple yet brilliant. You had to keep the book or parchment you want copied below the clean parchment/book and cast the imprint charm which in turn created a signature imprint or an "illusion of a copy" to be on the clean book. Then you had to cast the imprint seeking charm (on the pen or the quill of course) to simply home-in or seek all the letters that had to be copied and a simple animation spell (thankfully not the type the headmaster used while fighting Voldemort) later you had your own Xerox machine. All this was extremely similar to what you did with a carbon sheet, which was where Harry had gotten the original idea from. All the three spells were easy to cast if only needing practice and he had practiced them just for this occasion. This simple three step procedure now had to be applied to a little over three hundred books forming the totality of the restricted section. Sighing he began from the front row starting with the book _most potent potions_.

It was almost midnight when Harry had finished the charm work on all the books after three hours of continuous casting. He took a half an hour brake and collapsed on the couch before he had to begin his next task. He had known before hand that it would be the hardest week of his life and he would get very little if any sleep. On the other had the side effect of sleep depravation would do nicely for projecting the image of him grieving over Sirius. As his thoughts drifted towards Sirius he couldn't help but think, _shouldn't I really be overcome by grief over Sirius? What does that make me? ... Naaaa Sirius wouldn't want me to cry over him and now I know it isn't entirely my fault. Sirius with my father is probably is rolling on the floor laughing that I pulled one over Dumbledore using his death as a guise…probably thinking it's a grand prank. And my mother is probably watching them disapprovingly but inwardly laughing herself. _Yup it was a pleasant picture which seemed to refresh him and in time too…his half an hour was up.

_Right…onto the next order of business then._ Turning his thoughts towards the room he concentrated _I need a book that explains how to cast the best expansion charms_. Instantly there was large tome in front of him whose copy was also being added to his collection at that moment titled _practical advanced charms and how to instantaneously cast them_. He looked in the contents section and directly opened the extreme-expansion charm title. It read as follows

_Creturn aliqo: Expansion charms complete_

_Expansion charms are known to be one of the toughest and most draining charms in existence and that is the reason makers of sorcerer's trunks or expandable tents are in such high demand everywhere. To brief history and knowledge of expansion charms we should note that there are three major and frequently used charms. All of the charms actually have the same theory with a bit difference in it, but the intent, the visualization and the wand movements are always same. The simplest of these which is also a part of Hogwarts curriculum is the "cresco cunctus" with the wand movement of a circular motion as long as you are casting it. The intent apart from being the obvious action you should also imagine giving the walls you are using it on a mental push. If it is your first try then imagine yourself physically pushing the wall towards its boundaries. Note that this spell/charm has a range limit of ten meters radius and the effects are temporary ranging from a few hours to a maximum recorded of a week. Also to be noted and practiced is the constant wand movements. The mid level spell/charm in this category is the "creturn cunctus" which has four times the range and also lasts four times longer than the previous spell, the only difference is you must pause mentally I repeat mentally at the four/any number of corners that you encounter while doing the circular motion._

_The last and most powerful plus the most effective of these is the "dilato unus illaq" which is the same as far as wand movement and intent are concerned but differs drastically in the mechanics. If you have the requisite power this spell has virtually unlimited range and longetivity/life. The special action differs in the part that the spell must be done one dimension at a time that is to say height, width, and breadth separately. Also to make the changes permanent you must use energy containers or in other words ward stones. Now unlike wards these stones are not used to increase the life of the spell but to stabilize the expansion of space, otherwise you would result in creating a space-time-magic distortion which is I trust the reader understands quite disastrous. You should link the charm to the stability rune on the ward stone using the link- spell "adjungo munimentum" which has no wand movements but you must simply point to the ward stone and perform the spell with the clear intention and a felling of "joining" if successful the ward stone will glow a pale blue color. Note that the longer you hold the spell and the more power you push into it the larger the drain on your magic._

Harry felt like tearing his hair out. _Where in the nine levels of hell do I get ward stones from?_

_I have neither the money nor the time to buy ward stones now. Think Harry… think… I've got to cover all possibilities before I can go to any alternatives. HEY!...wait a minute Hogwarts is one of the most heavily warded areas in bloody Britain. There's got to be some currently unused ward stones in here….lets try that shall we…_turning his thoughts to the room _show me all the active and passive, used and unused ward stones of the whole castle and its grounds._ Suddenly there in front of him was the whole three-dimensional image of Hogwarts and all the active ward stones seemed to be glowing white. But the most important aspect was that there seemed to be what looked like a chamber with four glowing orange dots just below the lake. With a start Harry realized it was the chamber of secrets. Slowly a very sly grin spread across his face. Using slytherins stones to defeat his heir. Now he very much liked that idea.

It seemed he had to retrieve the stones from the chamber before doing anything so he decided to add another thing he had to do with that task. So he began to write 2 letters one to Flourish and Blott's and another to the goblins.

_To whomsoever it may concern_

_I wish to buy every book that you possess in your shop on the subjects of transfiguration, charms, defense against the dark arts, ancient runes and potions. I would also like you to include history books which should necessarily cover all relevant history between the early 1800's till now._

_I would ask that you choose the best of these books and limit the total bill to 20,000 galleons. You can charge the bill to Harry Potter's account with the goblins. I have sent a letter to them explaining the circumstances. I would also be grateful if the delivery might be made to me within the next four days._

_Sincerely_

_Harry James Potter _

_To_

_The branch manager,_

_Gringotts,_

_Diagon Alley,_

_London_

_Respected sir/goblin,_

_This letter is to inform you that I have entered into a transaction with the bookstore_

_Flourish and Blott's which involves a payment of 20,000 galleons. I approve that the amount be taken from my current vault when a request for withdrawal is made from the aforementioned people, further to confirm my identity I have added a drop of blood below my signature. Please enable this transaction to take place smoothly._

_Sincerely_

_Harry James Potter_

Adding a drop of blood to the bottom of the letter, he sealed the envelopes and put a private seal-spell on them so that nobody else but the recipient would be able to open them. He had found it when he discovered Umbitch was intercepting his mail. The reason he still had to copy all the restricted books was that they were restricted for a reason; you simply could not find these books for sale. Some tomes had only one or two copies through out the world. The only other collection he knew which was rarer than this one he knew was the headmaster's collection.

He took both the letters and left the room with his invisibility cloak and left to do both deliver the letter and also retrieve the four ward stones. After two hours he couldn't believe how smooth things were running. Salazar slytherin for all his cunning seemed loath to believe none of his heirs would remove the ward stones (he of course made the assumption that no other line but his would be able to speak parseltongue and hence the password was separated from the wards as the only defense). Each of the stones seemed to be an octahedral gem the size of his foot and if he were to guess these could hold a multitude of wards between each of them. They were even kept on a pedestal each. As soon as he removed them from those positions (with a few well placed reducter curses that he was sure wouldn't harm the stones) the wards began to fall. He had escaped very quickly after that knowing that someone would definitely feel those things coming down. The specialty of these ward stones seemed to that each was already carved a vast number of runes from absorption to stabilization runes. It seemed half his work was already done for him.

Well again he didn't have much time so he started on the most important task of all…making himself a home for this summer. First he emptied all the contents of his trunk then began adding unbreakable charms to all corners, flats and joints. Then attached a stone to the bottom-right corner of the trunk with a sticking charm and transfigured a few more of his clothes into restraints that would hold the stone tight in its corner. He took a deep breath _well now or never_.

Deciding he would go for depth or height first he slowly began a circular motion with his wand whilst imagining with all his might that he was pushing the floor of his trunk downwards and clearly enunciated "dilato unus illaq" at first nothing happened then the floor of the trunk seemed to shimmer

and slowly but steadily started moving downwards. Harry, now getting the hang of the thing started pushing more and more of his magic into the spell. At the end of four hours of continuously holding the spell he was barely able to stand but couldn't seem to wipe the stupid grin off from his face. He had done it. He had reached a goal of creating a depth of more than a hundred feet. But he still had to do one more thing, collecting the last of his strength he transfigured a cloth into a ladder and climbed down. He clearly pointed his wand at the glittering ward stone and imagining a feeling of oneness and joining said "adjungo munimentum". The ward stone seemed to glow a pale blue.

He tiredly climbed up the ladder and promptly passed out on the couch. When he groggily opened his eyes after two hours it was six in the morning and every blood nook and cranny of his body seemed to be throbbing. He so wanted to rest, to never get up. _I cant give up now …I've come this far… gotta try. _He took each a vial of the restorative potions and drowned them in one gulp. Within five minutes his lethargy seemed to have bled off.

As it was nearing 7:00 am he decided to have an early breakfast and return to continue his job. He repeated last night's actions going so far as to continuously cast for 6 hours and promptly passing out for another two. With the help of potions by the time it was six in the evening he had successfully expanded his trunk to roughly the size of three-quarters of the great hall. Right now he was thinking on a rather peculiar experience he had while expanding. Every time he had absolutely pushed himself beyond his limits it was as though a tendril of magic seemed to join the steady flow of his spell and this tendril was not by any means weak. Every time it happened it seemed he and his magic seemed to grow stronger, his spells more powerful. It was like a lost part of him was found again, it seemed to make him complete. Come to think of it, it had happened when he had first cast his patronus to save Sirius. But with all the mess he was in he had not given it a second thought, but he remembered. Well he would think more on it when he left Hogwarts. He had decided to give himself the day off and slept through the night till noon next day.

It seemed one of his two main tasks was completed now and he had an extreme number of smaller tasks and one very large task remained and he had four days to finish them. It also happened that the copying of all books restricted was also done. First he had to make his home habitable so he started on that….

To Be Continued….

A/N: I definitely know what brain-freeze fells like now….help me my brains turned to mush.

(1) I have no idea of any exchange rates, i'm just winging it here.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: Hello all….sorry it took so long to update but I figure it'll go very smoothly from now on. I once again would like to thank all reviewers, you guys rock. Okay… a few things to clear up before I begin…for all those romance fanatics, that part don't start till at least chapter 5 or 6 if everything goes according to plan and I would also like to point out that I may have changed a situation in OotP and PoA for my convenience, although it is in very small situations. Sorry for the grammar once again.

CHAPTER 3: PREPARATIONS PART TWO and DEMON HUNTER TOO

_He was lying on a large king sized bed being fed a vile tasting potion. He felt weak, so very weak._

_He could not move any part of his body except for his face and even that a little bit. But his mind, now that part of him was awake, as a matter of fact it was moving a million miles per second reviewing everything that happened a week back. And he was seething; anger and humiliation were burning through his veins like nothing before. For the thousandth time that day like the days before his thoughts turned to his mortal enemy, an almost 16 year old fledgling of a child that seemed to defy him at every turn of his plans. Plans he had so carefully wrought with years of patience and cunning that would have surpassed any counters anyone could have put up. Even that old fool Dumbledore would have fallen very quickly had it not been for that brat. Harry Potter._

_Oh how he loathed that name, the bane of his existence. The very pillar of defiance that seemed to wash away the fear he had worked so hard to create; people were afraid to even whisper his name, his very presence sending the tides of doom to every one in the vicinity. He recognized his mistakes now. He had underestimated the child- no man too many times. He remembered years ago when his own curse had backfired against him. Even then that one year old child had that gleam in his eyes that he had seen a few days back. Defiance._

_Bringing his mind back to the present he tried to see what had gone wrong this time. His first mistake had been to look into the mind of that brat to see if he had that prophecy. The Child's mind was so filled with grief and emotion that even a simple look through the link had cost him a valuable part of his magic. Magic that would have given him the required edge in his duel with the headmaster. An edge with which he would have finished the headmaster off; Just as that flaming bird had taken his first killing curse he would have fired of a second, taking down the headmaster. But no, with that energy lost he had needed more time to cast the next curse that ended the duel in a draw. Even though many people believed that the headmaster was the only one he ever feared the reverse was also true. Dumbledore was also afraid of one Lord Voldemort. Every time that the two had dueled in the past both had escaped before the duel could end in the death of one of them; but with one very important detail: that Lord Voldemort had always had the upper hand. _

_The second mistake which had cost him all his plans was that just after his duel he had tried to posses the potter boy. He had no idea how the boy managed what he did. Severus had assured him that the boy's natural mental barriers had been weakened during his occlumency 'lessons'. But the boy had done it, the boy had removed him from his mind so forcefully that rejoining of his soul back to his body, which was normally a smooth process(for him), that his body and magic had been damaged far beyond anything he had encountered since his downfall. For a moment he had thought the same thing that had happened 15 years ago would happen again; it had taken his everything to take Bellatrix with him and activate the port-key. He had been bedridden ever since and would be for another two months. Two months which he could have used to restart his reign of terror. Yes the potter brat was now his worst enemy, even more so than Dumbledore himself. If it were not for that prophecy he would have had potter as his right hand just below him…… _

_--(scene break)--_

Miles away at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in the dimly lit room of requirement one Harry Potter woke up panting and sweating with bile rising in his throat at the thought of him being Voldemort's right hand man. He would erase his own soul before he served that thing that called itself the dark lord. But he had gained three very important bits of information which he would use to his own ends. One that his mistrust of Snape was at least in part well founded. Two the headmaster was incapable of defeating Voldemort. Third and most importantly he had about two months to learn occlumency and/or sever the link between him and the dark lord.

As he got out of bed he took note that it was 4:00 in the morning and as he didn't fancy getting any more sleep he thought he might as well get on with his work. He quickly finished his daily morning activities and got ready for another long day ahead.

"Dobby"

The elf instantly appeared with a near silent popping sound by his side bowing low. "What can Dobby do for the great Harry Potter sir?" the elf asked bobbing up and down in his excitement.

"Dobby I need you to get some things from within the castle which are no longer used. I need a large four poster bed, a desk, a few straight backed chairs, a couch and a lot of book shelves. Can you do that for me Dobby?"

"Right away Harry Potter sir" replying the elf popped away.

A few moments later Dobby had brought all that he had asked for and Harry had levitated everything inside his trunk and relocated everything to places where he wanted them. Now one corner of his trunk had a large

Four-poster bed similar to what he had in his dormitory; to the right side of which were a sturdy yet simple desk and a few chairs. He had created a simple pit near the desk in which he had created a small blue flame which didn't give of any warmth but created a nice ambience especially with the slightly used couches surrounding it. He had lined all the book shelves along one of the walls and filled them with all the copied books. There were several empty shelves left, but he was sure that they would be filled to the brink with the rather ridiculously large order of books that he had made. On the far side of the shelves he had created a very small track for running and transfigured some ruble into some weights which he intended to use temporarily until he could get some permanent equipment. He knew the track was very small; it was almost like running around one of the house tables in the great hall. But it would have to do in case he couldn't get out during the summer.

It was almost lunch time till he was finished with all the changes to his trunk. And his stomach was protesting about not having any breakfast.

"Dobby?"

"Yes Harry Potter sir?"

"Could you bring me some lunch and also during that time, I want you to bring me all the kitchen appliances that are not in use and food supplies for about four months time. Put them inside the trunk please."

Dobby looked at him strangely for a second before saying "Dobby would be happy to do that sir." And popped away.

After he had finished with lunch which interestingly had been a burger (he didn't think he had ever seen burgers supplied to Hogwarts students before). He went down the trunk to see a full kitchen set up with everything he might require for a quarter of a year.

Now he had to work on protecting the trunk so he started applying basic charms such as fire-proof, unbreakable, feather-light and some anti-damage charms on various parts of the trunk. Just as he was about to finish up a window formed out of nowhere in the room and Hedwig swooped in through the window with a box twice her size tied to her leg. He immediately extended his arm and she settled on his arm. He was surprised to note that she wasn't the least bit heavier than before. _Hmm… I guess the package is spelled weightless. _ Also he noticed a letter attached to the package. Setting the package down he gave a few owl treats to Hedwig. Satisfied with the attention she got she gave Harry a head butt and settle on a perch which seemingly appeared near the window. He again wondered how intelligent his friend and familiar was. It was quite interesting actually; that for the room to sense her thoughts must mean that there was more to Hedwig than met the eye. He figured she had to be more than an owl; he couldn't count the number of times he had laid bare his heart talking to Hedwig and crazy as it may seem, the number of times she had consoled him. He made a mental note to look up snowy owls or any other magical beings that took the form of snowy owls when he got back to Privet drive. Coming out of his thoughts he finished his charm work and settled in to read the letter.

_Dear Mr. Potter_

_We are very pleased to inform you that the transaction you requested went as smoothly as possible. There was no trouble from the goblins either. As per your request we have included the best books on the subjects you requested from a novice to mastery level; as for the history books we have provided you with a wide array of historical tomes, some controversial and some 'ministry approved'. The total costs amount up to 19,567 galleons and has been deducted from your account. The package containing the books has been highly condensed and shrunk, hence we suggest being careful while opening it. Also added are the weightless charms and some spells to protect the delivery from interference as we would not want such a large purchase to be misplaced by any means._

_On a second note; as this was one of the largest orders we have had since perhaps a century, we have included an extra stack of books free of cost. Now Mr. Potter if asked officially these books are not from us nor do we have any knowledge of them. These books were uncovered from a recent raid from the DMLE on the ancestral home of the Gaunt's. As the department of law enforcement was unable to decipher the language, it was 'unofficially' handed to our care. After days of trying to decipher the books we discovered that these books need a special talent to be read. Now there are only two known people with this talent in known existence. And we could find no better person to handle this kind of knowledge responsibly than you. I believe you have figured out what we are talking about. We will trust your discretion on this._

_Sincerely_

_Galvin Flourish_

_Andrew Blott_

By the time he was finished he was floored. A special talent…that could only mean one thing. Parceltongue. If he now had spell books written in parceltongue then he had definite edge over most of the people he would come against. If not over Voldemort then against Dumbledore atleast and he had no doubt they would come to loggerheads at some point in the future at least; but he would be ready with a full arsenal when that happened.

Enlarging and opening the package he was again surprised to find over 400 books on the various subjects he had requested and also about a dozen books that curiously were made of squiggly lines of a seemingly flowing script. He realized these were the parceltongue books. But the question was how he was going to read them. After thinking for a while he tried imagining a snake slithering over the letters. After a few seconds he slowly began to see English in place of the squiggly lines. It seemed his mind needed more time than normal to process the information written in the magical language. Satisfied that everything was in order he put everything in the proper shelves in his trunk. He began taking an inventory of every book in his collection in the hope that it would help him later find out the order in which he would have to read them. After this tiring job he turned in for the night knowing the hardest and most challenging job lay before him in the morning.

--(scene break)--

Hermione Granger, the girl thought to be the brightest witch of her age was sitting at the Gryffindor table eating her breakfast. She was also looking at the doors to the great hall searching for one of her best friends. She had not seen him anywhere in the last week; not during meal times, not in the common room, not anywhere after she along with Dumbledore and Ron had seen him in the room of requirements. She still couldn't get the image of a broken Harry Potter sleeping on the couch clutching his photo album like a lifeline. She had desperately wanted to take him in her arms and tell him it would be alright. But nothing was alright; Harry had lost the last father figure he had, someone to call family. She could not begin to imagine what he was going through. She wanted to go to him, remove all his worries from his mind; but the headmaster had told her not to disturb him, that he needed his solitude. But as the days passed she couldn't help but doubt the headmaster's judgment on this, which in itself was a first. But she remembered last summer when Harry had been cooped up with Cedric's death hanging over his head. Even though others had only seen the temper tantrum he had put up, she had seen the underlying grief in his eyes. He had let it all out without showing weakness the only way he knew. Anger.

It was also the year she along with Ron had been asked by Dumbledore to inform him of anything of importance going on with Harry saying it was in Harry's best interests. She had of course agreed after all it was Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of modern times and beloved headmaster of her school. Of course he would have Harry's best interests at heart. But then why did she feel like she was betraying Harry in some way as the days went by.

_Because you are. _Answered a voice in her head that she had associated with her conscience and instinct. It was also interesting to note that it sounded suspiciously like the voice of Harry Potter.

_But Dumbledore said that it was for his own good, I'm helping him._

_If you are helping him then why are you doing it behind his back?_

_Because Dumbledore said so._

_Is listening to Dumbledore worth losing your friendship with Harry?_

_But Dumbledore wouldn't think of harming Harry._

_That's beside the point. You know Harry would accept it if you told him to his face that you are reporting to the headmaster don't you? You know he would appreciate it rather than take offence don't you?_

…………

She didn't have an answer to that. From early on in the childhood she had deep seated respect and faith in her elders and authority figures. Who wouldn't when you were an only child, ridiculed everywhere you went for being smart and called a bucktooth-know-it-all; when your only saviors were your loving parents and teachers who encouraged you, when your only retreat was books?. Harry had been her first friend ever. No one had cared for her as Harry had, appreciating her for what she was and encouraging her. The place reserved for elders had for the first time a place for a friend her own age. Along with Harry she had slowly become friends with Ron though she was always a bit leery towards him. It showed when she nagged Ron more than Harry, be it homework or any other matters, but still they were friends. Even though all this had happened she still carried her respect and blind faith towards authority figures. Hence she had accepted what Dumbledore asked of her instantly. Ron on the other hand had taken on the job with gleeful enthusiasm. It scared her how much jealousy, greed and thirst for fame Ron had. She had tried to stay away from Ron as much as possible and because of that she missed Harry even more.

She had a feeling in her gut that in the near future there would come a time when she would have to choose between Dumbledore and Harry. She didn't know what she would do when that time came. As she finished her breakfast she saw that Harry had missed breakfast in the hall once again. She also couldn't help but notice that the headmaster was in a very cheerful mood ever since seeing Harry in the room. Not the face one expected to see if ones comrade had bit the bullet. She sighed. She would figure it all out once she reached home which would be the next day.

--(scene break)--

Harry Potter the object of Ms. Granger's thoughts on the other hand was just waking up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. He would need all the energy he had to accomplish today's task which was

the focal point to his plans this summer. If he finished this task successfully he would have a way to safely use magic. Now if he was just any other normal wizard or teen this task would have been easy, it would just have been a matter of taking off the tracking charms off his wand. But once again matters had to be difficult for him. He had suspected that the ministry had decided to keep some extra tabs on him through the means of wards around privet drive. As soon as they sent the letter for the magic Dobby had done in his second year he knew this for a fact. Not to mention the extensive number of tracking and other charms that Dumbledore had most assuredly put on him. He needed a sure fire way to negate all that. _Well on with it..._as soon as the thought left him a book appeared in front of him already opened, it was probably one of the oldest tomes he had seen; its pages almost lost, the script barely legible. Sighing he started reading…

_Distortion fields and containment fields: A survey_

_A very curious branch of magic that is believed to be a hybrid of defensive shields and stabilized wards are the various types of fields. This particular type of magic is known as a hybrid because of its dual properties. The fact that it needs constant magical energy to fuel itself comes from defensive shields and the fact that this magical energy can be from passive sources of energy such as ward stones comes from the theory on permanent warding. This is a very obscure branch of magic which is rarely used. One of the most famous uses of these particular fields was in the building of Azkaban prison in year 876 even before the founding of Hogwarts. The above mentioned fields when they were applied to the prison were special in the fact that they would be passive until and unless the prison cell was occupied. But as soon as the prisoner was locked in the fields would activate and take the prisoners magical core itself as the source of magic needed to keep them up. Hence the prisoners themselves would constantly have a drain on their magical energy disabling them from doing any magic themselves. A rather ingenious idea cooked up by Alferion Gretsturd while building of the prison. The actual purpose of the fields however is that they create a thin magical-spatial distortion layer that it distorts and cuts off every magical or otherwise connection to what is within the field and what is outside; in other words total isolation from any sort of magic that exists outside of the field. This means that owls would not be able to find the person inside the field, no tracking charms would work on said person…even portkeys would not work as they work based on the connection they form towards their destination. These fields are one of the many protections that were put on the prison but were one of the more obscure ones._

_To contain an area with these fields one must carve the runes alfriedz, cretnik, norfik and friedahan on the requisite ward stone or if they are already present then must be activated using the incantation "gorfenko"(the incantation is shamanistic and language is till date unknown…though some believe these can be done without the incantation, we suggest doing it with one so to be on the safer side). Also to be done before activating the fields is marking the boundary of the field with a magically active substance, an ideal substance would be magical blood. After marking the boundary stand in the center of the area with your wand facing skywards to start the second incantation. The wand motion would be the infinity sign or a horizontal figure eight and a slash diagonally running across it with the incantation "et tu na kafru at tu na firlans et tu na gir" with the clear intention and feeling of isolation and separation; we repeat the feeling must be strong or this will not work. If successful a blue dome should flicker into existence over the marked area. Now you must connect the field to the ward stone using the joining incantation "adjungo munimentum" to the ward stone. For the third step we must charge the ward stones so they support the field. The easiest way to do this would be to activate the absorption rune on the ward stone so that any excess magic that is bled off within the shield would be absorbed within the ward stone, so that we need not continually recharge the stones. But note that spell casting becomes a tad bit harder than normal and all the more taxing. Now the easiest test for checking the success of the field is to cast a tracking charm on yourself and then entering the field. You should feel a sensation of feeling a weight being lifted from you as the tracking charm is muddled and lifted._

Now this was one thing separating him from his freedom.

So with nothing to loose he gathered up some raem's blood from his potions supplies he climbed into his trunk. After consulting his book twice to see which runes he had to activate, he repeated "gorfenko" four times on specific runes on the ward stone. After that he carefully marked the half the area off with raems blood including the track. Standing in the center of the field he started the incantation with the clear intention and feeling of isolation-which truth be told he was quite familiar with. After about eight tries and three wrong wand movements later a translucent blue dome appeared over the marked area and the blood seemed to evaporate as the dome thickened. Feeling apprehensive he went outside the field to the ward stone and connected the field. The dome seemed to sizzle for a moment and then stabilized. He activated the absorption rune on the ward stone. _Heh…lucky old Salazar decided to do all the hard work of carving runes on the stones … where would I be without him now eh?..._ chuckling at his own rather lame joke he stood at the edge of the dome deciding how he would charge the ward stone. Well the patronus was the strongest spell he knew and the book did say the stone would absorb magical energy. "Expecto patronum". A stag immediately erupted from his wand cantering towards the dome.

"Bloody hell" .

As soon as the stag had entered the dome it had simply disintegrated into mist. He gulped and did the spell again. After doing it over twenty times he was panting and sweating profusely. He looked back to see that the ward stone glowing up to half its length. He sat down and took a break for a few minutes and started again. After another twenty or more spells the ward stone had fully charged and the dome looked to be solid.

_Well its now or never…might as well check if all that work was worth it…_

"YEEEESSSSS" he whooped as he entered the dome. He had felt it. As soon as he had entered the dome he had felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted off him. He felt like jumping around and dancing around the trunk. All of a sudden the prospect of holidays was looking rather good. And if everything worked out the way it was working now then by the end of the holidays he would have a fighting chance against Voldemort and Dumbledore. With that thought in mind he climbed out of his trunk and went to sleep.

Now that he had time to think for a bit he had to laugh at the irony of things. The same magic that was used to contain prisoners at Azkaban he was using to obtain his freedom. With a smile on his face he made the journey into slumber land tired as the days before.

--(scene break)--

It was 7:00 in the morning when Albus Dumbledore made his way to the head table in the great hall. He walked with the sedate pace and a practiced grace he had perfected over a century ago. After all he had to maintain the image of the most powerful mage of the century should look like. It simply would not do waddle into the great hall like some common country oaf. His mood had considerably brightened as of a few days ago. As he sat himself at center of the head table his thoughts went again to the child that had been bothering him since the last five years. Really trashing his office was not a good show of respect. Somehow the child seemed to distort every plan he made. His carefully constructed empire if he dared call it that was starting to crumble along the edges because of one Harry Potter. Nothing was going as expected; Harry had not lost his powers as he had planned nor did he seem to be slowing down in his growth. He had made sure that Harry would loose his magic by the age of majority and hopefully take Riddle with him. But no, day by day Harry Potter seemed to be growing stronger and stronger both in magic and in spirit; he was quickly becoming dangerous to Albus's own plans and position. A position he achieved through careful manipulation and coercive cunning spanning over a century. He would admit himself that he was as ambitious as they came, but he did not like to rule out-front. No he preferred to pull strings from the shadows, to control everything from the corner of the horizon. People didn't know what they did for him unless he told them; Blind faith from all as they remembered him as their savior at every passing of the moment while he took advantage of their naiveté. No he got his thrills from playing games with people's minds, their emotions- in other words what basically broke them. But Harry Potter seemed to be a tough nut to crack. Well he did like challenges.

And the death of Black had brought an interesting twist into the game. He had to tell the prophecy to the child-slightly modified of course, but it was easy to modify a memory to a few words here and there. Now he had no doubt that Riddle would try to remove that from the child's mind- that link proved ever so useful indeed, he had made sure that Severus had weakened the boy's natural barriers that protected his mind. And he would see what happened when Riddle concentrated solely on the child. Yes he was looking forward to some interesting encounters in the future. Thinking of Riddle, that boy had gone way out of control than what he had intended for him. He was supposed to be a pawn like his childhood friend Gellart Grindewald had been; Easy prey and popularity for himself. But he had gone so far as to become the most powerful threat Albus had felt to his position. His power and knowledge rivaled Dumbledore's himself; perhaps superseded his. Potter would have become even more had he not taken the steps to prevent it that Halloween night to stop just such an event. Even if worse came to worse he still had the special wand that would bring him near to invincibility as nothing else could. As for the Potter boy, the last he had seen of him he seemed near break-point; he was sure the boy's 'relatives' would finish the job for him. If not then perhaps he could send Remus to 'admonish' the boy about responsibility and such, afterall the werewolf was totally under his thumb, had been from the beginning. With his patented grandfatherly smile at the students in the hall he started eating his breakfast sure that this time the boy's spirit would break.

--(scene break)--

Unfortunately for Albus Bumblebee said boy had no plans to 'break' anytime soon, in fact his own plans consisted of becoming even stronger than he already was. But he was not going to achieve that while snoozing so Harry Potter got out of his bed very chipper this morning as he had not had any nightmares or any dream for that matter. After a sumptuous breakfast he had Dobby bring him he sat down and thought what he had on his agenda next. As soon as that thought crossed his mind he felt like giving out an evil cackle. Oh how he had waited for this moment from the past five years.

Taking up a piece of parchment and quill from the desk beside him he started composing another letter to Gringotts.

_Respected sir/goblin_

_ First of all thank you for your co-operation on my request towards the transaction with messrs. Flourish and Blott's. I have received a reply from them that the transaction went smoothly without any problems. Once again thank you. _

_Secondly this letter is a request for withdrawal of 25,000 galleons. Please convert the required number of galleons into British pounds and be delivered to me by means of owl post. Another thing I would like is a contracts drawn up for the transfer of a property of one #4 Privet Dr. in surrey from a Mr. Vernon Dursley to Mr. Harry James Potter and another one drawn up for emancipation. I need the first contract drawn up for both magical and muggle societies and the one for emancipation in the muggle society only. Please deduct any and all expenses and fees that required from my vault._

_Lastly I would like a detailed report of all my properties and assets, be it in liquid or any other form to be sent to me. Also, I would like to enquire about the state of the property in Godric's Hollow. A report on its status would be much appreciated._

_Sincerely,_

_(Drop of blood)_

_Harry James Potter _

Satisfied with the letter he called Hedwig to him from her perch and tied the letter to her leg along with another letter- a thank you to the book store- he sent her off. He sighed knowing there was no way Dumbly would allow for an emancipation in the magical world, he was not believed to be the most influential wizard in the world for nothing. _You have to give the blighter that credit, the man has acquired power in every form be it magical, political or influence, Although the means he's used and his character leave much to be desired and wanting. Bah!!... not gonna spoil my mood thinking about the goat-fucker, got better things to do-like REVENGE. _

Now came the interesting part of what he called his "Count of Durzkaban" plan. His escape from the physical abuse or "Discipline for his own good" if you spoke Durzkabanian. He searched the contents of his trunk that he had spewed on his floor two days back and after a few minutes extracted a pair of worn out gloves he used to wear in winter. He deftly cut out half the fingers on both with a few well placed _diffindo'_s. He had waited from his first year to retaliate, to give back to the Dursley dolts what they gave him, but with all the trouble he got into over the years and not finding the means to do this he had totally forgotten about his secret project after coming to Hogwarts. The whole marking boundaries with the blood thing had actually given him the idea to do this, he didn't know if it would work out or not. The charm he wanted to put on the gloves was called The Herculean charm. Simply put it would amplify the strength of that part of object or body part in his case by about four times. In other words if he hit somebody with the gloves on they would remember the pain even after they woke up. He pointed his wand at one glove and waving his wand in an arc and remembering the feeling he had felt when facing Voldemort in his fourth year he intoned "_amplare vis_". The mitten seemed to glow a pale yellow for a minute and settled down. Just to test it he put on the glove on his right hand and experienced a sudden tightening sensation on his hand up to his shoulder even. He asked the room for a wooden board about 3 inches thick about a couple of feet wide and long, then feeling foolish punched the board right in the middle. To his great surprise and delight the board had broken right down the middle with a mild crash. Now came the tricky part…or the experiment. He knew the runes (or perhaps copied was a better word) to make the charm permanent but didn't know how to cast them. It was not even taught at Hogwarts even though they had an ancient runes course. People usually learnt that only if they decided to specialize in wards like a curse-breaker for example. If you 'officially' wanted to study it you had to register at the ministry. _Bloody bunch of wankers… the lot of them… well there are some good ones like Tonks and Moody but even they have to follow some rules concocted by people like ol' Fudgey even though unwillingly. _Most people studied it unofficially. It was not that he didn't have the books necessary to learn it but he didn't have the time to learn the skill, for it was a skill not any spell that he could learn just by reading. He had gathered from Bill that you learn several procedures like pushing your magic into the rune first before he even cast one. And there was the whole prospect of stringing them together. So he decided to cast them in another form he had just experienced. Magical substances like raem's blood would hold any rune he cast for an extended period of time but lose effect after a few hours- it was alright for the field he had just cast as the blood was used just so that the magic could recognize the boundaries. _But human blood now…that must be a different story if blood wards can hold for years without ever recasting them._ He quickly cast the charm once again on the remaining glove and then started searching the mess that was his trunk's previous contents for a parchment he had previously kept for just this moment. After finally finding it he opened it to find a line consisting of runes that his research had found (err…Hermione's but she had just sniffed and discarded his arguments and said "It's pretty useless isn't it Harry? They don't even teach rune casting in Hogwarts, besides you didn't even take up runes did you?" glared at him nastily and stalked off.). He asked the room for one of those blasted quills Umbitch had used to torture him with, he figured it wouldn't etch on his skin just this once afterall it had taken over a two dozens of detentions for it to become visible on his skin. He carefully started writing the runes on the edge of the gloves. As soon as he finished writing there was a brief red glow on the glove. He sighed again, he had no way to test if it had worked or not…he could just have delayed the fading of the charm or he could have changed it he didn't know. He just had to cross his fingers and wait or else…or else he just had to take a few beatings and then put his plan to action. He soon finished the same on the other glove and put the gloves in his pockets for use later. He let out a great breath of air for all his tasks at Hogwarts completed. He then banished each of his possessions that lay scattered to the trunk to separate places that he had designed for them only giving a sad glance at the mirror that Sirius had given him. He had found it the night after coming from the ministry. He knew better than to dwell on the "what ifs" after his "weeping week" as he called it now. As he looked at the time he saw it was nearing 1:00 PM, he decided that a grand lunch was in order for finishing his tasks that he himself had assigned and a day plus half early too.

"Ah! A very good afternoon to you master Potter. I hope the lunch was fulfilling." A smooth yet baritone voice spoke up from somewhere in front of him just as he was finished with his lunch. His wand was out in a second and pointing at- _when the fuck did ghosts start coming in Technicolor?_ What he was staring at was a ghost's body to be sure but oddly enough this ghost wasn't white but retained all the appropriate colors that the human body should posses and yet he was translucent. The aberration, he didn't know what else to call it, chuckled and he was startled when it-he addressed him again. "I am indeed NOT a ghost master Potter, I am a SPIRIT. Forgive me where are my manners? My name is Treghan Storm, current chief warlock of the storm-clan." He seemed to mumble something which suspiciously sounded like "although the clan doesn't exist now". Harry took this time to take a good look at the …err spirit. He seemed to be moderately tall probably at around 5 feet 11inches but had a very stocky build with a wide set of shoulders. He was by no means fat; in fact squinting he was sure what he saw were at one time rock hard muscles covered with scars. What was curious was his clothing; he was wearing baggy yet fitting brown pants with a set of steel capped boots, a brown waist coat over dark green full sleeved shirt. What were curious were the breastplate and the cloak. A black breastplate made of what seemed to shine like metal yet was flexible seemed to adorn his broad chest and torso with a silhouette of something like the head of a saber-tooth tiger was etched in gold colored sand like style. The cloak he was sure would work just as well as a cape was of a dark blue almost black hue with a silver lining on the edge. He also seemed to carry a long sword that was strapped behind on his back. The man's face seemed to be cut from rock with black wavy hair that was cut to a medium length. But his stance and the aura around the man screamed warrior and danger- this was not a man to cross ever-period. His black eyes seemed to glitter as he patiently waited while Harry was finishing his scrutiny.

They stared at each other carefully regarding the other when suddenly Harry broke the silence

"I think I have heard of you somewhere but I can't remember where and there was nothing about any spirit"

"Quite Possible, Perhaps the word demon hunter might jolt the memory for you" he smiled.

It did jolt the memory alright, it was from a history of magic class- one of the few he paid attention to. The demon hunter was a myth, a legend- a man who supposedly defeated a whole demon army single handedly and went to another world to finish of the rest.

"Some of that info is actually a bit skewed you know."

Harry immediately put up a "protego" shield as it seemed the spirit was reading his mind and he didn't have any occlumency to go with he put up the next best thing that came to mind. The spirit chuckled once again.

"Yes, I am indeed –ah how was it you put it- reading your mind and let me assure you there is no form of occlumency that would stop me from doing it. And oh yes, that shield wont help you much either, in other words master Potter you are at my mercy, in fact have been for the better part of last week."

"What do you want from me? And how is it I'm at your mercy? In fact I think I have an advantage in this particular room."

"But the problem for you master Potter is that this room IS me and I AM this room."

To which Harry eloquently answered "huh?"

The spirit laughed outright at this and began again "as for what I want from you…well that is pretty much complicated why don't you have a seat, I fear this will be a long discussion" and two straight backed but comfortable chairs seemed to appear out of nowhere which immediately dashed Harry's hopes that what the spirit had said had been a bluff (he had not given the room any commands so it must be the other). He took a seat seeing as he couldn't lose anything if he had been at the spirit's mercy for the last week and he was almost sure it was true. Seeing that the spirit…err Treghan was waiting for him to speak he started raising his doubts "How is it that you are this room? Wouldn't people have noticed a spirit occupying a room like this? And why are you talking to me alone?"

Treghan seemed to think how to word the answer before answering "You misunderstand Harry, when I said I am the room I meant it in a very literal sense…the spirit is what makes all things possible in this room-every action, every wish made to make a room is anchored through the spirit that is me. This was my life's greatest creation- to have anything materialistic you desire in the world as long as you can imagine it packed within one room. As for no one noticing it, not everyone is allowed access to this room-only those that deserve it and then only limited access. Haven't you ever wondered why nobody used this room instead of the astronomy tower-err for various activities-even after you showed them in your little club. Haven't you ever wondered why even when you were teaching your little club the room only seemed to listen to your commands and only the minor commands of others? That is because you are the only one I have allowed full access to this rooms resources. You ask why? Because you master Potter have earned my respect and admiration through all you have weathered and that you still retain the fire and the spark to continue your fight. Your passion and thirst for justice- it may sound cliché but still is true- has moved even me. And that is saying something as I have seen a thing or two myself in my time. As for why I was peeking into your mind if I had no ill intentions, well that is because it is the room's precursory function. How else do you think the room becomes what ever you wish for in the outside? It performs a rudimentary leglimens scan of what you want. I also go through memories in detail of everyone that enters this room, which is how I know about almost whole of your life. And my leglimency is not a SPELL that these moronic wizards seem to use." That last part especially the word wizard was said with extreme disdain. "As for what I want, I come to give you an offer-whether you accept or not is another matter altogether- but we will come to that later after answering the questions you seem bursting to ask."

"How is it you built this room in Hogwarts? No one would have allowed you to do so, especially after the whole Slytherin chamber thing."

"I built this room as my chamber, actually well before any of the founders created their own chambers. Let me start at the beginning. It was after I returned from the nether- the world you seem to think I went to chasing demons- that I found out four very talented magic-users were planning on creating a school. I was naturally opposed to this idea." He raised a hand seeing Harry was about to retort angrily. "Let me explain. I was opposed to this as magic cannot in any sense be taught to the masses as a whole. It was taught individually and selectively for a reason. Everyone's magic is different- and I'm not talking about magical signatures or the aura either- I'm saying that everyone has to use it differently, shape it differently. By creating a school they were effectively diluting magical learning itself. You might have observed that some people seem to be inherently good at transfiguration and some at charms and some at others. Your father himself was known for transfiguration but was assumed dismal at charms by everyone. The vice versa for your mother. They were actually not bad at all. They just needed to be taught very differently and only took to a particular subject by instinct. Take for example yourself, by your own admission you are not very good at charms or transfiguration and yet you just learned one of the toughest charms to master in one day. Why? Because given the right book which explained you the intent behind the spell and not just the wand movements and incantations like you are told in class you actually understood a part of how the spell works for you. This dilution I'm talking of has almost reduced the magical users to paltry magicians using parlor tricks. In fact you will find that there is a suspicious lack of knowledge concerning what magic really is and how it works. In other words true magical theory not that book which explains just the effects and techniques of spells that you bought in first year."

Well that was true, almost all the books he had on magical theory even now concentrated on cause and effect rather than the process themselves. But Treghan seemed to continue.

"Where was I? Ah yes well after talking with the founders I was unable to convince them that this was a bad idea. After that I settled for just observing the school, for I knew that the best and the future of magical Britain would center in this place. Fortunately for me the founders were in need of a ward master of considerable prowess as they themselves would not be able to ward a place of such heavy magical concentration- a little fact Hogwarts is built on the meeting place of two heavy ley lines of magical concentration. I agreed to ward the place in exchange for allowing me my own chamber in the castle. I keeping my part of the bargain cast some of the strongest and unique wards in known existence using the energy of the ley lines themselves. Now the very strange thing about the wards is that they are half sentient that is to say they are aware of the things going on around and inside them. They cannot talk or anything like that but can take conscious decisions themselves. Even the headmaster doesn't have total control over them". He finished smugly.

Harry on the other hand was feeling dazed with all the information flow. But slowly started analyzing the situation and finally came up with the million dollar question "what offer are you talking about?"

Treghan seemed to observe Harry for a minute before answering "Offer in the sense I want to pass on my legacy or I suppose our legacy master Potter. But before going into that let me make some things clear to you so that you'll better understand things. I was NOT a wizard while I was alive Harry. I represented something far greater than anything any wizard could accomplish. I was a warlock. Through the ages people seem to have, intentionally or not, come to confuse the terms warlock and wizard. They are not the same. Some even think that a warlock is a wizard who is trained specifically for war; this is also not true. By definition Harry, warlocks are people who wield magic not just use it, who manipulate it not constrict it to mere spells. We are born with a deep instinctual link and understanding of it, trained enough we were able to be one with our magic. Our mind, body, soul and magic were so interleaved that we were an unstoppable force only bound by our own rules and morals. As wizards became more and more dependant on spells and limited themselves …we died out. Wizards instead of looking inwards started to seek more and more external resources in their quest for power, inturn diluting and deluding themselves of what magic actually is. If you do not understand what I speak of then take this as example, if someone were to cast an unknown hex on you and you had nowhere to dodge- you or any other wizard would simply put up the strongest shield known to them in hopes that it would be enough. I or any other warlock who is trained enough and has found his core-I'll explain what that is later- would actually just by looking at the spell and by the feel of it would know what its purpose is. But the real kicker is that we would actually create our own shield- and by create I mean invent- on the spot that is specifically meant for that curse alone. Do you see the difference, the difference between a wizard and a true master of their own magic? We do not need spells; why use incantations when we can wield magic at its basest form. Spells ironically were created for novice warlocks who could not manipulate the magic at the requisite speed required in a duel. Now you see Harry why I was opposed to the idea of a school, not everyone has the ability, that inborn instinct towards magic. Not everyone could become a warlock. That is why we took on apprentices. We also taught others to how to wield magic as much as they could and taught them the spells, atleast the ones that they were capable of casting, used by novices. In world where magic was taboo this was the best arrangement possible, where we would search for potential and then take the children under our wing for as much their own safety as ours. Most parents were happy to be rid of 'the little Satan' as they called them".

"How did you actually identify the ones who would become warlocks? I'm still not clear if it was something that could be taught or was it something you became?"

"Neither Harry… in a world where imagination is your only boundary don't you think there were…are many ways one could acquire knowledge in as much time as a month like you were planning on doing?... ultimately Harry in the world of magic, knowledge is not the highest power. True it has its value, but skill, experience, and a variety of other things take precedence. One of the prime reasons I believe you and Mr. Longbottom were the only ones left standing in the ministry when it counted. But you had to have that instinct towards magic, the spark that could be blown into a flame, before you even tried to become a warlock. As for finding one having that spark there are various instances where by normal standards things that are impossible become reality".

"And you actually think that I have this spark?" Harry was really skeptical at this point. He had never believed himself to be special. "If you went through my memories you would know that I didn't even have that many bouts of accidental magic as a kid and even they were far in between".

Treghan smiled at this.

"Actually that is one of the signs I'm talking about. Lack of accidental magic is a sure sign of the spark. You must understand Harry that accidental magic is just that…accidental. People who have the spark have a much more stable form of magic in them. It lashes out only when their emotions are totally out of control. And when that does happen something big is surely to follow. I believe apparition at the age of 7 is deemed impossible- even isf it was to the rooftop." He seemed to find this humorous, there was definitely a small twinkle of amusement in his translucent yet life-like eyes.

"Growing your hair isn't anything big." Harry mumbled.

Treghan laughed outright at this.

"Harry, do you have any idea how hard self transfiguration is for full grown wizards. Why do you think they even use polyjuice if everyone could transfigure their body parts, even hair? If you still don't believe that you have the spark, then the graveyard incident is the best example I can give for it."

_How the fuck is me getting lucky, have anything to do with it?_

Treghan seemed to grow serious as if sensing his thoughts. "I'll show you Harry"

All of a sudden a thin wall of mist began to form in front of both of them. "Forgive me for the intrusion Harry but I have to display this memory of yours. It is important that you realize what you are capable of. A large part of using magic successfully, Harry, is believing in yourself. Please watch very carefully…"

Harry sat mutely as the seen began to play on the wall of mist itself. He didn't like reliving this memory; it was one of his worst ones. Both watched with sad eyes as Cedric fell to the green light like so many others. _An unnecessary sacrifice, but he shall be avenged _incidentally was the thought going on in both of the viewers. They saw Harry being tied up, unable to do anything through the shock of seeing a friend being killed before his very eyes. They saw wormtail forcefully taking blood and resurrect the dark lord. They saw HIM put Harry under the cruciatus curse. They saw him initiate that mockery of a duel. As soon as they reached the part where Voldemort shouted the killing curse- the memory seemed to still…err pause as though stopped in that moment of time. At this point a very serious spirit started speaking to Harry.

"Now Harry I want you to consider a few things first before we proceed to my actual point. Now most curses, including the killing curse are cast in the form of beams or bolts of energy right?"

"Right" was the confused reply. _Where's he going with this?_

"Patience Harry, I'm getting there. Now, how thick do you think that avada kedavra beam was? For that matter how thick or wide do you think your reply in expelliarmus was?"

When he received a blank look in reply, Treghan seemed to sigh and answered himself. "I would say about 2-3 centimeters thick (or in diameter if you look at it that way) at the maximum wouldn't you say so?" when he received a bewildered nod in return he continued. "Now tell me Harry what is the probability- no possibility- that two such beams collided point blank in mid air when there was atleast thirty yards of distance between the two casters. The brothers do have an effect but it happens only after the beams collide not before- its like expecting two bullets to collide in mid air just because you have the same model of the gun- it just doesn't happen like that Harry." Treghan was now smiling at the dumbfounded look on Harry's face. It was like a proverbial light bulb went off above his head. _Yes how in the name of Zeus DID that happen?_

"What happened there is a very rare thing that happened, even among warlocks. Now watch very closely I'll show you". And the scene on the mist seemed to resume play. As Harry was defiantly saying the disarming spell, the picture seemed to zoom in on Harry's wand arm to the wrist and seemed to show it in slow motion. Just as the spell was about burst forth from the wand, the wrist seemed to jerk and tilt all of a sudden. After that the scene seemed to roll on to normal speed. Harry's mouth was hanging open and he all but shouted" I don't remember doing that."

"No you wouldn't, because you didn't do that, not consciously. Apart from the astounding show of bravery and will power to not back down Harry, you did one more thing there. What happened there was instead of normal circumstances where our magic responds to us, you on the other hand responded sub-consciously to your magic. It blatantly shows in your choice of curses as a response. Tell me, why you used that spell alone when you obviously new better ones like a stunner- I believe you practiced with it enough for the tournament?"

"Instinct" Harry slowly replied. He was starting to see where this was going.

"Exactly, you were acting on pure instinct alone at that moment and because of your connection to your own magic- your magic responded to your call. It (it's actually a part of you but I'll come to that later) sub-consciously guided you to the best path available for escape. Never again say that you just got lucky Harry. If luck was the only thing required to escape death, MANY more people other than you would have the title of the-men-who-lived or some such" he snorted. "One more thing that happened was you creating a portkey. Did you really think that death eater would create a two-way portkey just so you could escape? Your emotions were again haywire there. I would bet that the only intentions running through your head at that time were getting yourself and Cedric's body away from there. As soon as you summoned the portkey your magic read the portkey-signature that was previously there and made a return portkey". And sure enough there on the mist screen he saw a small blue glow on the cup as soon as it touched his hand and a second after that he vanished with Cedric's body.

Harry was slowly starting to accept that may be, that just maybe he was warlock material. All his instincts were screaming at him to trust Treghan. _Ah…instinct, that word was sooooo simple before all this._ And yet the part of his brain that was thinking this through seemed to catch up. A possible part of the puzzle seemingly clicking into place. This had way more potential to become 'the power the dark lord knows not' than any kind of love however you looked at it. He knew he could not catch up to Voldemort's experience or knowledge quickly no matter what. But if he could actually become a warlock it was sure to give him the required edge. Love was no doubt a powerful force in itself, but it was not power nor was it a solution to destroying the dark lord even if the prophesy didn't say anything about using this so called power. Oh yeeah he could imagine it now. "_Volddddyyyyyy…… come give me a huuuug. I loooove youuuu. Now voldy, be honest with me are you my father? No?...well I know your just a lonely boy on the inside who just needs a hug and a kiss, come now let it all out", Giving Tom a Weasley-Granger patented bone-crushing hug. Suddenly Voldemort would start confessing while sobbing hysterically "I'm sorry…so sorry…I was so lonely, everybody hated me…………"_

He was brought out of that insane imaginary scene by sounds of hysterical laughter from the spirit sitting … or rolling on the floor clutching his stomach. _Why's he clutching his stomach anyway, he's just a spirit. _

Still giving out a few chuckles Treghan answered, "Harry, if you don't find any other way of offing the dark idiot, then please just send him this memory and I'm damn sure he'll just kill himself with a simultaneous case of constipation and apoplexy". Harry had to smile at that. Even he himself agreed that he had a rather wild imagination even at his age, it was probably due to all the time it was suppressed during his decade long stay in Durzkaban.

He took around five minutes to think this through. He knew there was a possibility memories could be manipulated, but they were to in-sync with the explanations, his emotional state at the time of the memories and the arguments to be some really, really elaborate plot by…anyone. In the end it was a win-win situation for him, Even if he could not become a warlock. If he could even gain a whit of experience, learn a morsel of knowledge from the battle hardened warlock then he would have a definite edge wherever he fought. For Harry was sure now that the warlock had softened his whole image up for Harry's benefit, the answering smile from the warlock to these thoughts was proof enough. Even in this watered down state you could see that the man had not been one to mess with when he was alive, not mess with in any form of the word. Period. _Yep, this is the best thing I can get right now._

"I accept your offer of becoming a warlock. But I want to know, if I do become a warlock, what's the catch?"

"I'm very glad you asked that question Harry. When not if you become a warlock Harry you will either be feared or be revered as a god due to the power you wield Harry, both of which I know you despise and hate with all your heart; Which curiously enough has been the same with all of our clan including me. In other words it's a lonely path that you'll walk after this point. You will find hardly any people if any at all, that will knowing what you are capable of, stand up to you; Similarly, very few people who stand by you and ground you. In my age you would have been honor bound to answer certain calls for help, but in this day and age you will be under no obligation to answer any call as such. Although I suspect you will answer them without any such rules. This is all the so called catch I can think of."

_Pffft…it's not like I have a load of people standing by me now any way. It will always be stand-alone for me when it counts, when it's life or death. I was alone in the chamber with Quirrel in front of the mirror, I was alone in the chamber of secrets, I was alone in the graveyard…I was alone with voldemort in my head. Alone with only memories and blessings of guardians passed away. So be it. I will be alone when Voldemort finally falls._

"Alright then, as I said I accept. How do we proceed from here though? You know from my memories the various problems involved".

"Yes I do know of the various problems involved and I have solutions. I would also like to go over several things that are important before you take your leave from Hogwarts. The first is that of training you up from scratch. Now do not expect this training to be a regime Harry, this will be unlike anything you have heard about. But before any of this even begins, I want you to continue with your plans you made before I made my appearance. It is very important that you get used to using as much magic as possible before we start, which will speed up your way to becoming a warlock when it does happen. Our training will actually consist of a decade's worth of experience shared by me in the span of a single day by the means of a mental link through this book." A very large tome- the biggest he had seen- appeared suddenly in front of them. "I made this book before I died for this exact reason that I somehow could not take on an apprentice and for the reason the legacy should not be lost. Once you feel that you have learnt enough from other sources you have gathered and familiarized yourself with your own magic, write the word 'Garthen' on the front page of the book to start the process".

"Right. Understood". Harry very carefully took the book and placed it on a shelf in his trunk. Climbing back out of his trunk he retook his seat.

"The second thing I wanted to discuss was occlumency. You will find that, using the techniques present in the books you presently have, it would take you a minimum of 2 years to fully master it. This as you know will not do for either of us". This only confirmed Harry's suspicions that Dumblebum didn't want him to learn occlumency. He waited for Treghan to continue as it was obvious he had a solution to this. "Now there is a little known but extreme method of achieving control of your own mind. Mainly discouraged because of the sheer will power these particular techniques require to master your own mind. But I would be willing to bet my wand and wand-arm both that you will breeze through it. So I strongly suggest you try this first. I have included the required information and instructions for this in the book. You merely have to write 'occlumency' on the front page for it to appear".

"Now as my gift to you, I thought you might like some more company than mademoiselle Hedwig with you in that place you call home- nothing against Hedwig ofcourse". As soon as he said it a glowing white sphere seemed to come out of the floor. As he observed it carefully he could make out the form of some kind of wolf cub sleeping inside." That is a dire-wolf cub Harry. They are a warlock's best friend" he said humorously. "Perform a blood bonding ritual on him to make him your familiar. By the way I noticed that you haven't done so with Hedwig as well, I suspect she's far more than an ordinary snowy-owl. This should actually bring out her hidden form. Again all the information on both the bonding and the beings they become should be in the book. And oh yes! The cub is under a time-stasis field, a simple finite should take care of it".

Harry couldn't wait to do the rituals on both his friend and soon to be friend. But immediately grew serious when he saw the grave look on Treghan's face. Whatever was coming wasn't good.

"Harry, the most important thing I wanted to discuss is the despicable and cowardly thing that Dumbledore did to you magic. I would rip him to shreds after tearing him limb by limb if I were alive Harry. What he did was unforgivable." As he went on talking his face seemed to take on subtle changes, but changes which together had scared shitless whole legions of demon-armies in real life.

Harry interrupted his ramblings by voicing his thoughts. "He bound my magic didn't he?" Suspicions had been forming in his head as soon as he had felt the tendrils of magic joining him. It had felt like his own magic RE-joining him. And he had immediately started connecting the dots to Dumblefuck's betrayal. It seems he had guessed atleast near to the mark.

"If it were only that simple. Dumbledore did not bind your magic Harry, he sealed it. The difference being that by sealing it not only was your magic bound but with time it would simply disintegrate meaning destroyed. With time the whole of your magic would have been burned away leaving you a squib, but with your connection to magic it would have given you a long agonizing death. Most who would look at you even healers would think it as some kind of lost disease you were infected with." Treghans face was now contorted into a terrifying snarl.

Harry on the other hand had gone completely white. He forgot to rage about Dumbledore, forgot to rage about being fate's whipping bitch, and forgot to breathe for a second. Was all the work he had done for naught? Was he simply expected to keel over and die? All of a sudden a force seemed to answer his call from deep inside of him. NO. No he would not give up that easily, he would not just be a puppet, he would fight back with every morsel of strength he had. Suddenly he was aware of wild magic swirling around him and felt another tendril join the stream that was his magic. He was broken out of his reverie by a great roaring laugh coming from Treghan.

"I was actually going to reassure you that you are safe now, but it seems the more someone pushes you…you push back twice as hard. Truly remarkable. Now you have very little to worry about actually. What Dumbledore put upon you is called 'The seven seals of banishment'. Exactly as the title states they consist of seven magical and ethereal seals placed on a persons magic, this was used as a punishment actually worse than death to some of the irreversible criminals of Atlantis. The seals after a period of time…generally about 16 years start to burn away the magical core of the victim from that point on. It seems Dumbledore didn't want you around after you reach your majority. Now these seals cannot be removed by any external force. The only known resistance was pure human will power. After you broke through your first seal casting your patronus, your own magic has been whittling away at the next seals. One of the reasons you have bouts of power and bouts of lethargy. Your recent use of ridiculous amounts of magic another three seals were broken down, which I believe you felt. The one that broke down just now was again your will power. Like I said truly remarkable. You are just the second person who has gone beyond four seals in the known history of man kind".

After allowing Harry to settle down he continued "now there is no danger to your magic directly per se, but the last of the seals are the toughest to break. I am sure you will break through them…eventually. But it might be this summer or near the end of your natural life, I cannot say. Unless you remove those seals you will not have access to the totality of your magic. It is imperative that we achieve it. I have included a set of rituals also in the book for you to go through before you begin to do any magic over the summer. Write the word 'rituals' on the front to see them". Treghan's expression suddenly seemed to turn neutral as he further explained "I would like you to go through one of them especially, you will know which as soon as you see it. This particular one is called 'The rage of the Gods' it has many side effects that you will find desirable including severing that connection with the dark lord. Also I believe you were intent on taking wit-sharpening potions to gain knowledge quickly? The problem is that though I went through the ritual myself I would never suggest it to another. There is a good chance you will come out of it insane. Almost 90 percent who try do. But again check it out and take your own risks. I shall neither say 'aye' nor 'nay'."

They kept staring at each other for atleast ten minutes before both got up simultaneously and by some strange chance of fate bowed to each other. Night had fallen over by the time their discussion was ended and it was time for dinner. As he called Dobby for arranging his dinner he cleaned up everything he had strewn on the floor back to the trunk and restored the room to a modest bedroom. As he was eating his dinner Treghan took his leave or perhaps just to disappear said "Good bye then Harry… when next you come to this room my spirit will have dissipated. Music guides us, eternity calls for us" was the strange yet surreal goodbye. Harry somehow understood and replied in the same fashion "Eternity calls for us". And the spirit simply disappeared. The next morning he would leave Hogwarts for the next phase of his plans.

With his dinner done for the first time in many days Harry Potter went to sleep on his four-poster bed not with the idea of an uncertain future but with the hope for a place found in the uncertain future. As the sands of dreams collected under his eyes he did not hear a gruff voice whisper

"Good luck, Harry Potter".

--

AN: well my first chapter that has been this long. I know from seeing myself that it may seem like a monologue on Treghan's part but I would like to point out that he can actually read Harry's thoughts and that it was necessary for the plot. Also would like to say that a few more explanantions on why Harry accepted

And the various things he came up with will be explained in the coming chapters gradually. His plans will not be reveled fully until the very end.

I was also trying to bring parallels to the way Dumbledore left Harry on the doorstep of privet drive and the way Treghan said goodbye; Both being turning points in Harry's life. Just don't know if I was successful.

I would be grateful for any reviews because I reaally need some input when the chapter has been this long. Any mistakes pointed out will be much appreciated. But mistakes on grammar, I'm afraid to say are prevalent and I still haven't found a beta. Sorry.

Signing off

trooper


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